#Grady ruewen

[illumonated]

ive said this once and i will say it again, grady is the most nuanced character in KOTLC. Purely from just how he is written in canon- there is so much we can draw from his character with little inference.

On the one hand, you have a walking tragedy: he manifested one of the rarest and most dangerous abilities in the lost cities at a young age, he lost his daughter to her fiance, (if we're talking theory, he may have been in the neverseen), you can't help but feel sympathy for him.

But then- you realize something terrifying.

Gisela and Vespera are right.

Grady is the most ruthless elf in the lost cities.

But he's also one of the kindest.

Despite the danger it poses, he and Edaline adopt the Moonlark, they put themselves at risk. Despite everything been through, they willingly give their love to a girl who needs it. That is one of the kindest acts someone can pull off.

However, as alluded to earlier, there's another side to him. Despite how concerned, kind, and thoughtful he is; he is also vengeful, impulsive, and distrusting.

Let's look at Everblaze again. Partially because it's the best example of his darker nature, partially because I have it on hand right now, partially because it is my favorite book in the series.

In Everblaze, Grady's vengeance and impulse is seen in full. Take King DImitar, for an example. Sophie was going to be taken away; and Grady jumped in. He believed it to be the right thing to do; and believe me it was, but there is a dark tone to it. A feeling of impulse; that he wasn't truly thinking at the moment. And he almost violated the treaty, if it wasn't for the Councillors coming to his defense.

This scene serves as subtle foreshadowing for later and sets up something very important about Grady:

He could kill someone if he wanted to. And he knows that.

But what could push him that far? Well, there is an answer to that, an answer we later find out:

Jolie's death.

When he finds out the true circumstances to Jolie's untimely demise, his sheer ruthlessness is demonstrated. There's a deeper level to this however, it is his underlying fear of being taken advantage of showing to its surface.

Brant took advantage of Grady and Edaline, and that is the biggest injustice to Grady. Because it's what he has been fearing, it's why he had closed himself off to the world.

That fear causes the sheer level of terror that is caused in Grady. Terror that builds into his impulses, which causes him to go out to find Brant, with intent to kill.

That's why he doesn't want Sophie to come with, he doesn't want his daughter to see the monster he was about to become.

The monster he believes himself to be.

It's not just Everblaze, but a feeling that permeates his character and his choices.

His distrust of Keefe stems from two things:

The similarities he sees between himself and Keefe (the sense of humor, the blond hair, and later in the books; the ability of control).

How that, in a way, is all Grady has ever known.

Elves manifest young. Meaning that he has spent a majority of his life being distrusted by his peers, as well as distrusting the world and fearing someone would take advantage of him.

So when there's a talented but terrified young kid that needs his helps; whether through adoption or through training, he obligies.

Why?

Because he sees himself so much in that situation. Because of that deep feeling of kinship, he feels a need to take care of people in that situation.

Grady's empathy trumps his distrust.

And that's why he starts helping Keefe. That's why he adopts Sophie.

tl;dr: grady's character absolutely FUCKS why does no one talk about this???

also he is hotter than hell and i will fight people on this

[bookwyrminspiration]

grady when u ask why he doesn't trust the black swan books 1-2

[waining-crescent-moon]

forever bitter about the timing of vesperas death like what do you mean we didn’t get a biana vespera rematch? what do you mean we didn’t get vespera talking about numbness to keefe?? what do you mean we didn’t get a vespera and grady talk about ruthless???

[doodle-do-wop]

im gonna rewuest something normal ish

grady in the seat of emminece scene in this fit

id marey you

Had to add his goofy daughter cause Sophie's fit was actually kinda a huge slay and no one talks about it

[castleofravens]

“not all men” you’re right grady ruewen would never

[ann-lol]

Something that needs to be talked more about in this fandom is Sophie and Bronte’s subtle growth towards respect and even love. I mean Bronte really was just a complete hater in the first few books but he genuinely started to care for Sophie, especially after he met Amy, which is just so freaking adorable! He even told her that she might not be his daughter but if she was he’d be so proud LIKE WHAT- I don’t care who Sophie’s biological father is, the only two options in my head that I will ever consider Sophie’s dads are Grady and Bronte!

[iywalirayhtdwa-official]

We need more ruthless Grady moments

That’s it. That’s the post

[aurenflare]

something about grady ruewen seems to have gotten lost in translation here with keepblr because guys. that is a conventionally attractive white man… not a twink… not a hear me out… i think i’m going insane

[camelspit]

wouldve been so funny if the neverseen had used gradys hatred of the black swan to recruit him after jolies death (before he adopted sophie)

[alwaysakookie]

I finally finished the kotlc poll drawing!!!! I love these guys so so much💗

I even learn rendering for it (At least I tried)

Ignore how I drew the hands mkay 🫣

[crescentpaws]

can you draw grady ruewen pls 🙏🙏🙏

low quality doodle 🔥🔥

(he’s talking to sophie)

[illumonated]

THIS IS JUST AS HARD OR HARDER THAN WIITYISPB WHAT THE FUCK GRADY POP OFF QUEEN

[ramiethewizard]

headcanon that Grady only dislikes Keefe bc Keefe reminds him of his younger self

[verydizzyelf]

hands down my favorite interaction between the council and anyone else besides sophie is when grady made them all slap themselves in the face at the same time (truly iconic, luv u king)

but

every time i think about that part during alvar’s tribunal when fallon walked in, halted the entire proceedings literally just by his mere presence, and like the first thing he did was look at alina and make that little comment about hearing wedding bells? jaw. dropped.

and then alina immediately comes back with that bit about “well it worked out for the best” or whatever and gestured to her councillor throne? the pettiness. hilarious.

no cuz i know if i was sophie i would not have been able to keep it together. i would have been laughing so hard. it makes me cackle every time i think about it. the pettiness is truly unmatched. i love it.

[keefeclothesandcrisps]

one thing i HATE abt kotlc is that they have one elf do something wacky and their like "oH a CoMPletLy new AbLIty!" no. no. no its fucking not.

one person is anomaly. 2 people is a coincidence. once you have 3 people, THEN you may call it a ability.

you should not have "ability detecting" for an "ability" you've had exactly 1 of over your thousands of year old history. BECAUSE THAT MAKES NO SENSE!!!!

[ann-lol]

You can hate Keefe, you can hate Fitz, you can hate Sophie, Dex, Biana, Bronte, Grady- heck you can even hate Linh, Tam and Tiergan, though that might earn you a side eye. But if you hate ELWIN…I’m sorry but we simply cannot be friends 😔